Reach the right users with two new mobile targeting options

By
Tuesday, 16 December 2014

Mobile is at the core of Twitter’s DNA: more than 80% of our active users engage on the platform from their mobile device.

Over the past year, we’ve rolled out a number of tools to help advertisers connect with our mobile audience, including targeting by mobile operating system, specific device and WiFi connectivity. Today, we’re releasing two additions: the ability to target by mobile carrier, and the ability to target users with new mobile devices. Now advertisers will be able to reach the right audience on Twitter even more precisely and efficiently.

Mobile carrier targeting
You can now reach users based on their mobile carrier. A number of advertiser categories can make use of this targeting type in different ways. For example:

  • Mobile carriers. If you’re a mobile carrier, you can easily create a loyalty campaign on Twitter by targeting only your customers, and excluding those using other carriers. You can also create an effective customer acquisition campaign by targeting all users except those who already subscribe to your service.
  • Mobile manufacturers and app marketers. These marketers can create custom content tailored to people based on their carrier to drive improved performance.
  • Other verticals. Advertisers across verticals can create carrier-targeted campaigns that align with their preferred demographic. For example, a CPG brand that knows that users of a certain carrier are more likely to be interested in their product can target those users exclusively to optimize campaign efficiency.

Reach the right users with two new mobile targeting options

Target users with new mobile devices
Using new mobile device targeting, you can target (or exclude) people who have recently used Twitter on a new mobile device or carrier. This feature is ideal for mobile app marketers who want to reach those who are looking for apps to install on their new device. You can target those who have used Twitter on a new device within a certain period of time. And, you can combine new mobile device targeting with any other targeting type, such as keyword, interest or mobile operating system. For instance:

  • A mobile app advertiser in the fashion vertical can layer new mobile device targeting with fashion interest targeting to encourage app installs.
  • A mobile carrier can combine carrier targeting with new mobile device targeting to reach customers who have recently activated a new device and are on their network with an upsell campaign.

Reach the right users with two new mobile targeting options

Since we first began testing this, we’ve gotten positive feedback from brands about how these new targeting features help them create more efficient campaigns:

For instance, @TMobile used carrier targeting to tailor their Promoted Tweets to new and existing customers. Peter DeLuca, T-Mobile’s senior vice president of brand and advertising, explains:

“Twitter is blazing a new trail in the social space with this type of targeting and our early results are very positive,” DeLuca explained. “More importantly, it’s really helped us extend our Un-Carrier approach of directly speaking to existing and potential customers – and we plan on continuing to refine and expand those efforts.”

Mobile payments app @GoSoftcard drove installs of the different versions of their app designed for several carriers. Jeffrey Mack, head of social media, reports that carrier targeting helped them overcome major hurdles:

“Softcard has a unique challenge in that we have three separate versions of our app, which are all mobile carrier-specific,” Mack began. “Our biggest challenge in the past was effectively running digital acquisition campaigns where we could push a new user to the correct version of the app. With carrier targeting on Twitter we’ve been able to overcome that challenge in a big way.”

Canada’s largest carrier @RogersBuzz used carrier targeting to connect directly with their customers on Twitter. Chief Brand Officer Dale Hooper tells us:

“With carrier targeting, we’ve been able to speak to our customers in a more meaningful way when travel and purchase decisions are top of mind for them, while also ensuring the media spend is efficient. This campaign marks one of the biggest investments we’ve made in Twitter to date, and the results so far are great; exceeding the telecom threshold by 10% in English Canada, and 30% in French Canada.”

Get started
Mobile carrier targeting and device targeting are now available in 35 countries, and will be rolling out to our Ads API partners shortly. To get started or to learn more, visit ads.twitter.com and the Help Center.

Note: We recently added a quote to the original version of this post.